Snooze
by The-Amazing-Gracie
Summary: All Danny wanted was just a little more sleep. The nightmares had been crazy the last week as the anniversary of the CATs passed. But when extreme nightmares make Danny transform in his sleep, and his parents catch him, what's a halfa to do? Reveal fic. Non PP. DxS Rate and Reveiw
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, for a little over a month I've been working on continuing on of sapphireswimming's shorts. This first chapter is her short and the other three chapters are my continuing. I don't plan on going any farther than this and I think it went in an alright direction. Rate and Review, Check sapphireswimming and I out, and let me know what you think. Later Phans.**

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Jack and Maddie advanced on the dormant figure, weapons drawn and ready. Just because he was sleeping did not mean that he wasn't still one of the most dangerous beings to ever have lived—or _existed_ was probably the more correct term considering that he was, in fact, a ghost.

He made no moves as they came closer, not even seeming to recognize the fact that the world's most renowned ghost hunters were on the verge of catching their most elusive prey.

For several minutes, they thought that he must be faking his sleep —so sneaky, so clever with that arm across his face— but would snap to attention with blazing hands the moment they stepped close enough or let their guards down. There was no way that such a successful fighter could really be that unaware of his surroundings.

But as the clocked ticked, the young ghost did nothing. There wasn't even a change in his slow, easy breathing pattern.

The Fentons finally realized that they were going to have to make the move if a move was to be made. So, with Jack excitedly aiming just a foot away, Maddie slowly inched closer and, without letting her guard down, nudged Phantom with her foot.

He mumbled a bit and repositioned himself, but made no signs of either waking or attacking.

The hunters looked at each other, thoroughly confused. This was not at all how their scientific minds had expected him to react, in any scenario they had ever envisioned. He was like a sleepy teenage boy, not a battle-hardened and blood-thirsty piece of ectoplasmic cognizance.

Maddie nudged him again. This time, he uncovered his face, a little more coherent, but still making no effort to take the offensive, or even defensive, against his would-be attackers.

She didn't stop nudging him the third time, but kept touching her toe into his side until she got a reaction.

Phantom finally groaned and turned over.

"Leave me alone... uhng..." a lazy hand stretched to vaguely swat in the direction of her foot, but never made contact. He groaned again. "Just five more minutes, Jazz..."

For a fraction of a moment, there was nothing but a deathly still silence.

It was broken when, at the sound of his daughter's name coming from the ghost's lips, Jack's gun slipped out of his hand. He only managed to catch it again with a huge amount of fumbling and ectoplasmic based curses.

Maddie had been so surprised by what she heard that she instantly froze.

The sudden stop of the nudging foot in his side finally got through to Phantom's brain, telling him that something had changed.

Something was different, was wrong.

He stiffened, suddenly fully awake and alert.

His green eyes shot open.

And he slowly, ever so slowly, looked up to see his mother, glaring down at him with all the hatred she could muster, armed to the teeth with weapons pointed directly at his ghostly core.

He blinked once. Twice. Then softly gasped.

"Oh crud..."


	2. Chapter 2

Phantom slowly lifted both of his hands in the air, a signal of surrender.

"Let's not do anything drastic here," He started slowly. Maddie squeezed the trigger of her gun gently, it wasn't hard enough to set it off, but Phantom got the message. He turned his palms towards himself but kept his hands in the air.

"Talk Ghost." Jack demanded. He was still shaken up over Phantom saying Jazz's name.

"I-uh, I-I,"

"TALK! What are you doing here, how do you know our daughter, and what have you done to our Danny?"

Phantom took several deep breaths before he opened his mouth and talked slowly, making sure that he wouldn't stutter. "I'm friends with your son Danny Fenton. He lets me stay here when there aren't any ghosts for me to catch overnight. He snuck out last night to see his girlfriend. Jazz knows that I stay here sometimes. She usually wakes me so nobody finds me. I think they feel bad for me." He twitched as he realized what he was implying. Sam was going to kill him.

"Why do you breathe?" Maddie asked sharply. Phantom's eye twitched.

"Crap." He took another one of those slow deep breaths that weren't necessary. "I only died a few years ago, I breathe out of habit." Jack charged up his gun as Phantom scratched the back of his neck.

"Sit up Ghost. Palms towards your face!" Phantom sat up with ridged movements. His back was as straight as a board and his body made a ninety degree angle. He crossed his legs into a pretzel as he turned to see the hunters better.

"There we go. Now if everyone's good, can I leave now? Danny's going to kill me if he finds out that I got him caught." Maddie didn't want to let the ghost go. He would be such a good subject for dissection. She was about to blast Phantom's core, knocking him out, when Jazz opened the door. She was talking before she was even in the room.

"Danny? Come on you nee- Mom? Dad? Danny!" Phantom let out a sigh of relief.

"Jazz! Danny snuck out to see Sam last night so I didn't have any warning when your parents came into check on him this morning. They found out that you and Danny have been letting me stay here when I'm not fighting ghosts."

Phantom's tone was obvious. He was cluing Jazz into something, grasping at straws. Maddie could still tell that Jazz hadn't been expecting to see Phantom.

"Oh. Mom, please let Phantom go just this once. It's not like he was doing anything wrong. He was just sleeping."

"In your baby brother's room Jasmine. He was sleeping on your baby brother's bed. He needs to be taken care of."

Jazz smiled softly. "It looks like you'll need to take care of him another time Mom and Dad. That Danny Phantom sure is slippery."

Maddie and Jack turned. When Jazz had them distracted Phantom had turned intangible and had sank halfway through the wall. Maddie only managed to graze the side of his thigh when she shot at his core moments later. Jazz was still smiling as she turned away.

"Jasmine Madeline Fenton!"

"I've got class. You can punish me later." As soon as she closed the door after leaving for her day on campus at Amity University, Danny opened it. A small, slightly smug smile was on his face until he saw his parents.

"How is Sam doing this morning Danny?" Jack asked, his arms crossed. His ecto gun was dangling limply from one arm. Danny face palmed.

"Oh crud."

DPDPDPDPDDPDPDPDPDP

"YOU DID WHAT!" Danny held up his hands in surrender as his girlfriend patched him up.

"Sorry Sammy, I was tired and I didn't know what the hell was going on other than the fact that both of my parents were holding me at gunpoint. I didn't really have time to make up a good excuse. Please don't kill me." He rushed. Sam pulled on the bandage she was using to wrap up his burn.

"I might have if you hadn't brought me coffee before getting patched up. I'll spare you this time but if your parents tell mine, then you're dead." Danny cringed.

"I would be dead on so many levels it wouldn't be funny. You almost done?"

Sam sighed. "Would you like me to stop fixing you up Daniel Fenton?"

"No Ma'am."

Sam huffed smugly. "I didn't think so. This's going to take a few more minutes Danny. How did your parents get you this badly, this burn isn't pretty."

"Mom." Danny started solemnly. "She recovers from shock quickly. Do you think that it'll take long for this one to heal?" Sam sighed.

"I don't know, the ray was infused with ectoplasm. That usually takes a while longer to heal then normal burns. I just don't know Babe." She was frustrated to say that she didn't know, Sam liked to be right. She was the toughie who always knew what she wanted and what was going on.

Danny set a hand on her shoulder. "Its fine Sam, I'll just hide it like I always do. If they haven't found anything out after three years then they won't now." Sam looked away from Danny.

"I don't know Danny, your Mom is super smart even if she is slightly oblivious. With what you used for an excuse this morning, she's going to be watching you close. Just be careful." She took her hands off of the newly bandaged burn and sighed.

"Sammy, look at me." Danny asked gently. He lifted her chin up so he could see her as they both sank to the floor of her room. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and a smile snuck its way to her face.

"Yeah Danny?" The ghost pressed a kiss to the Goth girl's lips.

"We'll be fine. Now drink your coffee Sammy, you look ready to fall asleep."

"Well, what do you expect? It's noon on a Saturday!" Danny scoffed.

"Okay Sam, it's early. Want to go meet up with Tuck at the Nasty Burger? If he hears anything about this morning from my parents he's going to flip, it doesn't matter what he hears." Sam rolled her eyes as she picked herself up off of the floor. She had to help Danny up as his injured leg was weak. It wouldn't surprise her if Danny walked with a limp for a couple of days.

"Lead the way Mr. Phantom. I could use a bite to eat."

DPDPDPDPDDPDPDPDPDP

Tucker was already waiting for them when Danny and Sam arrived at the Nasty Burger. "Hello Lovebirds. How are you two this fine afternoon? I got a phone call from Jazz this morning, she was laughing like something amazing happened at the Fenton house this morning but I couldn't get anything out of her. Care to explain?" Danny and Sam blushed lightly as they slid into their normal booth.

"I may or may not have accidently transformed in my sleep again. And my parents may have found me asleep in my bed as the other me. And maybe, to get away with what life I have left, I may have implied something inappropriate about Sam and me." Tuck looked to Sam and then back to Danny before bursting out laughing.

Both of his friends were quick to try to make their friend shut up. Sam kicked Tucker with her combat boot under the table.

"Tucker, Shut up. Or I squish your PDA with my boot!" His laughing stopped suddenly and his eyes narrowed as he watched the Goth girl.

"You wouldn't dare Samantha." The girl's eyes widened and Tucker realized that he had crossed the line. Sam stood up.

"Is that true Tucker Andrew Foley?" She was about to snatch the PDA from Tuck when Danny made her sit down, a calming hand on her shoulder.

"Sam. A fight between the two of you would be frowned upon. May we focus on the issue at hand?" Sam huffed.

"Fine. We can focus on why you're transforming in your sleep. Did you have any dreams last night?"

Danny shivered and took the hand Sam offered. Tuck winced. "Dude, was it really that bad?"

Danny sat forwards and his eyes started to glow. He used a trick that he had just recently perfected. He could share information between minds. Tucker closed his eyes as Danny placed his fingertips on Tucker's forehead.

DPDPDPDPDDPDPDPDPDP

A scene washed over Tucker. Danny locked up in a cage made of ectoranium, his friends and family chained around him. Dan towered over all of them, his fingers pulsing with the power of the raw, red ectoplasm that danced across his fingers. Danny was forced to watch as one after another, everyone was picked off. Sam was left for last, instead of meeting her end quickly like everyone else had, she was strangled by Dan's own hands. Danny's desperation to go ghost and save everyone was tangible.

It had only been a second before Danny removed his hand from Tucker's forehead and the geek's usually cocoa skin turned ashy. "Wow. That makes sense."

Sam set her hands on her hips. "Well? Aren't you going to show me now? I need to understand too, don't I?"

Danny repeated the process he had just done with Tucker on Sam. When he removed his hand from her forehead he was so pale he could have been confused for a corpse. Tuck had a revelation. "You could see that every time, couldn't you?" Danny nodded, not trusting his voice. He had just relived his nightmare twice in a minute.

Sam pressed a kiss on his forehead. "Tell me about it next time. I'm going to go get some soda, do you want any?" Both of the boys nodded as Sam walked off. They were silent for the first minute.

"How many nightmares have you had this past week Danny? Your usual number is two." Danny raised a hand, fingers spread wide. Tucker's eyes grew to the size of baseballs. "You had five nightmares! You should have told us, the more dreams the crazier things get in Amity." Danny shrugged.

"I figured it was just because it's been two years since the CATs yesterday. Two years since him." Tucker made his friend look at him, no small task. Despite the fact that Tucker was several inches taller than Danny, the halfa was much stronger. It was a mixture of his super strength and the fact that he was as stubborn as a mule.

"Call one of us next time, or wake Jazz. If this keeps on happening someone's going to find out. That and the fact that it's not healthy to stew it all. Maybe a dream journal would help."

Danny softly as Sam walked back over to the boys. "You've been spending too much time with my sister Tuck. And I already have a dream journal."

"I thought you could use a soft serve. What did Tuck do now?" Sam groaned as she sat down next to her boyfriend. She set three sodas, two ice creams, and a sorbet on the table. Danny grabbed one of the cups of vanilla and a spoon eagerly.

"Encouraged me to talk about my nightmares and keep a dream journal. I've already been keeping the dream journal because Jazz said I needed some outlet other than blowing things up." He replied through a mouthful of ice cream. Sam chuckled softly before realizing what Danny said.

"How many have you had?" She asked in an angry whisper.

"Five in the last week." Tucker said helpfully as he grabbed his cup of ice cream and soda. Sam lost the whisper.

"Five? It's the sixth day of the week idiot!" All of the Nasty Burger looked for the cause of the noise, when they saw it was Sam they returned to what they were doing. Sam yelling at one of the boys wasn't a new thing.

For the second time that day, Danny raised his hands in surrender. "Forgive me Oh beautiful Sammy." His girlfriend shot him one more look before starting on her sorbet.

"Just let us know next time idiot."


	3. Chapter 3

3:49am. Maddie was walking down to the kitchen to get a drink of water. Her Fenton ear plugs were lodged in her ears and her feet were wearing bunny slippers. She passed the kids rooms on the way to the stairs. Jazz was out cold, her red hair spread across her pillow like a copper spray.

Danny was asleep too, extremely restless but still asleep. Maddie smiled sadly. She had found out just the previous day that her little boy had been hiding the menace, Phantom, in their own house. It made her wonder just how much her baby was hiding. She trudged down the stairs and into the kitchen, grabbing her early morning glass of water. Just as she finished draining the glass, screams of terror came from the upstairs.

Maddie set the glass down and ran, the screams were so loud that she could hear them through her ear plugs. Something was horribly wrong. By the time she was halfway up the stairs the hall light was turned on. Her daughter's form was seen darting through Danny's doorway, closing the door behind herself. She continued up the stairs with renewed energy. Her little boy needed her, he was terrified and probably had no idea what was going on. She opened the door to her son's room to find Jazz shaking Danny's shoulders as he thrashed. Tears leaked from his closed eyes as he screamed. Silvery white halos surrounded her boy's waist and a look of pure, unrestrained panic locked itself to Jazz's face. She took a deep breath, steeling herself, before jabbing her little brother in the leg.

Danny's eyes snapped open as he leaped out of bed. Tear continued to stream from his eyes as the halos returned. "Get away from them!" He cried in a mixture of anger and terror as the rings traveled in opposite directions. I almost had a heart attack when my eyes recovered from a bright flash. Where my boy had stood moments before was the ghost boy, Danny Phantom.

Jazz face palmed and set a hand on Phantom's leg. He looked over at her and came to the conclusion that he was safe. The halos returned as Maddie pulled her earplugs out of her ears. When the plugs were out and the flash was gone, Danny was back. Jazz poked him in the side of the leg again, almost like she knew right where to hit to startle him, and Danny yelped, not as loud as he had before but loud enough. He looked around the room almost on instinct and his face went slack when he saw Maddie in the doorway.

"Hi Mom. How long have you been standing there?"

DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP

Danny had been hoping that Maddie said that she had only been there for a second, when he yelped the last time. That was unfortunately, not the case. "Long enough. Explain." Danny's breathing froze for a minute. Jazz had to set her hand on his shoulder and flicked him between the eyes for him to respond.

"Mom." Danny said slowly. He seemed to be confident, like he had no doubt in his mind that things were going to be alright. Maddie flinched as the boy in front of her called her the name. Hurt flickered up in Danny's eyes before he pushed it back down. "It's still me. I'm still your Danny. I'm going to make just a couple of phone calls and explain everything when my backup gets here. Why don't you wake Dad and make some tea while I get things ready?"

Maddie's jaw tightened and her hand slid to one of the ecto-weapons on her belt. "What back up?" She demanded tightly. Danny crossed his arms in a protective X in front on his chest.

"It's just Sam and Tucker. Nothing threatening. I promise that we're not going to hurt anybody." Maddie gazed at him skeptically before walking out of the door, closing it gently.

Danny sank to the floor and gasped, his nightmares fresh in his mind. Jazz sat down beside him as he pulled a couple of objects to him with long, strong arms. Within thirty seconds, he had a mostly full notebook in front of him, a pen in his hand, and his cellphone to his ear. He cringed when somebody screamed in the phone, demanding why they had called them at that unearthly hour. "Hi Sammy." Danny whispered. All of his previous confidence was gone, replaced with a childlike fear. Sam stopped ranting. "No, I'm not okay...Yeah, I had another one... Mom saw me transform... Can you come over? I know it's early but I need help... You're a lifesaver Sam. I'll see you in five... I love you too Beautiful... Bye."

Danny let the phone drop to his lap as his girlfriend hung up. He slid the phone to his sister. "Can you call Tucker for me Jazz? He'll come if you say it's a 9-1-1." The concerned sister took Danny's phone, dialing a number that they had both known for years. The halfa started to write in his notebook, an unknown language flowed from his pen. Jazz walked from the room as he wrote down his newest nightmare in the language of the ghosts. He wiped his eyes as the tears started to fall to the page. He finished scribbling down the words as quickly as possible, slamming the book shut as soon as he was done.

The doorbell rang and Danny picked himself up off of his floor. He ran down the stairs and opened the door to find a young man with cocoa colored skin in pajama pants and a Star Wars tee shirt. His feet were covered in sneakers and a red beret was placed crooked on his head. Glasses were on his eyes slanted in the direction opposite to the beret. "Danny." He breathed seeing his friends face. "What the heak happened this time?"

Danny swallowed and walked outside beside his friend, closing the door behind him. He wasn't properly clothed to be outside, only in a pair of gym shorts, but Danny didn't care. He rested his head on the wood behind him. "I had another nightmare." He began shakily. "I guess I was screaming and my Mom came to check on me. I told Jazz about the dreams last night so she came in to wake me up. I didn't think of my mom following her. I was startled when Jazz woke me. I thought He was still trying to kill you and Sam. I transformed right in front of her. "

Tucker groaned. "No." Danny cut him off.

"I haven't told her or my Dad anything yet but we're telling them the truth. I just wanted more backup than just Jazz if things went sour, that and the fact that you and Sam have been through this whole ride with me. Sam's on her way."

Tucker set a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Dude." Danny looked up and his eyes were shattered. He pulled Danny into a one armed hug. "Are you going to be okay? It was about Dan-" At the word "Dan" Danny covered his ears with his hands and started humming, rocking as he sat.

"That word isn't in my vocabulary. I don't know what you're talking about." Tucker exhaled hard.

"I mean him. It was about him." Danny nodded. The dream had been about his evil self.

"I'll get back to you. The outcome of this conversation will pay a large part in me being okay."

DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP

Sam's car pulled up in the driveway. The girl was only in a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top but didn't seem to care. She didn't even have shoes on her feet. She ran up the walkway to the two boys sitting on the steps. Danny stood and his girlfriend wrapped him in her arms to comfort him. Danny wrapped both of his arms around her and held her for a minute. "What happened? You didn't have time to tell me much of anything on the phone."

Danny sighed. "I was dreaming and started screaming. When Jazz come in to snap me out of it my mom followed her. Jazz startled me and I transformed because I thought that I was still dreaming. I don't think that she's fully digested what she saw yet. That's all I know."

Sam leaned backwards and looked Danny in the eye. "What's our story?"

The halfa sighed, "Our story is the real story, the truth. I'm tired of excuses and the disappointed looks. Mom knows too much anyways."

Sam nodded and pressed a kiss on Danny's nose. "Then that's what we'll tell them. Are the two of you ready to go in?" Tuck nodded but Danny hesitated before the techno-geek set a hand on his shoulder.

"We already know that they'll still love you Dude. All we need to do is explain."

Danny nodded but still looked unsure. "You're absolutely right. It'll be fine." The halfa opened the door before walking inside. Part of him wondered if it was the last time he would walk through that doorway without being shot.

Maddie and Jack were sitting in the living room. Jack looked groggy, a teddy bear still in his hands as he sipped some tea. Maddie and Jazz each had a mug in their hands but they were drinking the liquid more to stay awake than out of thirst. There were three mugs waiting on the tables for the teenagers.

The trio sat down, each taking a mug in their hands. Danny watched his parents fearfully. "Please. Don't kill me." He begged in a whisper. Maddie's eyes softened.

"Danny dear, you're safe. Your father and I aren't going to hurt you. I promise. We just want some answers."

Danny nodded as Sam took his hand, squeezing firmly. "When I was fourteen," he started slowly, "there was an accident in the lab. Do remember the portal accident?"

Both of the boy's parents nodded quickly. There was no way they would forget that day. Danny's screams had echoed through the house as he was electrocuted. The home had smelt of ozone for weeks and Danny had been in the hospital for days. For several weeks after that Danny kept to his room, a far as possible as she could from his parents. Maddie bit her lip. "Did Phantom imprint off of you, is that why you can mimic him? Has he really stolen your face?"

Danny face-palmed. "This is going to be harder than I thought."


	4. Chapter 4

It was all Danny could do to stay sitting on that couch as he wrung his fingers together. He glanced down for a moment, pausing to regain his courage after his mother interrupted him. He felt a warm hand on his leg and he glanced over at the person beside him. Sam smiled bravely. "We can do this." She assured him. Tucker set a hand on his best friends shoulder and squeezed. "All we're doing is talking. We talk about it all the time the four of us, all the time. It's only two more people. Not the world Danny."

The boy's parents grew confused as Danny nodded. His voice wavered, something that almost never happened. "You're right as usual. We can do this." They always said the word "we." Maddie noted as she analyzed the children and their body language, searching for answers about her son. The two teens that weren't her children seemed to be assuring Danny that they weren't going anywhere. The thought wasn't outrageous, people often got hurt in Amity from the ghost attacks. It would make sense that Danny was scared that his friends would disappear. That didn't explain his plea to Jack and Maddie to not kill him but it was a bit of an explanation about how stressed Danny was all the time.

"Danny?" Jack asked softly, much more serious than normal even if he was tired. Jack appeared uncaring sometimes when he was focused on work but he really loved his family. "This isn't just about the portal, is it?"

Danny shook his head. His eyes were extremely alert, much to alert for a child who should be asleep. I knew that he stayed up late sometimes but he was acting like being up in the middle of the night was a normal thing. "N-no. But that is when it started. How much did Tuck and Sam tell you? I was kind of knocked out then." The teen tried for a smile but it came out as a grimace.

"Just that you tripped into the portal and it turned on. That's it." Jazz informed the trio. Her hands were clenched in her lap, a sure sign that she was nervous.

"I-uh." Danny stuttered. "That's not all that happened. Something happened to me when I was inside. I'm not entirely human anymore." There was a pause before Jack and Maddie burst out laughing.

Danny bristled as he waited for his parents to stop laughing. "Good one Danny-Boy." Jack said. "What's the real secret? Did you steal Phantom's face or something? That putrid ball of protoplasm is nothing like you."

Danny jerked up from where he was sitting on the couch, despite the protests of his friends. He flung his arms out, almost like he was inviting somebody to give him a hug, a look of pure determination coloring his eyes before he closed them. A halo of white light so bright that it was almost blue surrounded his waist. It split in two, traveling up and down the teen's body. Snow white replaced the pitch black hair. A tight fitting black jumpsuit replaced the gym shorts. His skin was darker, tanned from being close to the sun on a daily basis. When the young man's eyes snapped open they were unearthly green, defiantly not the soft blue that Danny Fenton was known for.

"Am I a putrid ball of Protoplasm Dad? Are you going to rip me apart molecule by molecule now? You're not going to vaporize me completely right Mom? You still need to examine my remains don't you? I don't have emotions do I? Look at my tears! Look at my eyes! Look at me! I'm your son! I'm Danny!" He screamed, tears falling hot and fast. Danny slid down to the ground and transformed back to his human form, hugging his knees to his chest. "I'm still Danny." He whispered repeating that he was still Danny over and over.

DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP

Sam slid off of the couch and wrapped her arms around Danny. He buried his face into the crook of Sam's neck as she rubbed his back. "I know that you're still Danny babe. I know." Sam snapped her eyes over to Jazz. "Where's his notebook?" She whispered. Jazz jumped off of the couch and ran up the stairs, no doubt to get the book Sam was speaking of.

Maddie's mind was going crazy and she felt borderline insane. The scientist in her was screaming to get a thermos, to lock the boy before her in it, and to go find her real son. Unfortunately for the scientist, the mother in Maddie was sure that it was her baby crying on the floor in front of her. Jazz returned to the room and handed Sam a standard notebook. It wasn't unlike the one that the kids used at school, if you didn't pay attention the gibberish on the cover.

Sam flipped to the latest page of writing, scanning to nonsense quickly. "Tucker." Sam commanded suddenly. "Get your butt down here and read this." She handed the notebook to Tucker as she pulled Danny up. "Come on Babe, let's make some cocoa. I don't think tea's going to cut it right now."

Sam led her boyfriend out of the room, her skin never leaving contact with his. It was almost like she knew he would panic if he didn't have human contact. Tucker's eyes widened as he read the notebook. "No." He whispered before hitting his head on the coffee table. "It's not any better than last year."

Maddie licked her lips. "Tucker?" She asked softly. "What's that?" Tucker's eyes snapped up from the page, the edges rimmed with red.

"Danny's dream journal. He wrote it in ghost so that you couldn't read it." Tucker didn't say anything about the dream, not willing to give up his friend's secrets. Danny and Sam walked back in the room before Maddie or Jack could say anything else. Danny's hands were shaking as he watched his parents with nervous eyes.

"I'm under a lot of stress right now." He explained. "It's the anniversary of something that did and didn't happen." At the blank looks the adults were giving Danny he rolled his eyes. "I'm friends with the master of time. I've been in a couple of different universes. Not all of them are pretty." The group was silent for a moment before Jack spoke.

"Danny-Boy, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean anything that I said."

Danny's eyes flashed, the only sign of emotion from the boy. "Don't lie Dad," Danny deadpanned, "You're a horrible liar. You never lied about ghosts. Never." Maddie reached over and set a hand on the boy's leg. He flinched.

"We really are sorry Danny." There was a snap as Danny's body dropped a good thirty degrees. It went from seventy, normal to a halfa, to forty as Danny's ice powers kicked in involuntarily. He was glowing again. Maddie removed her hand.

"You don't just get to say that you're sorry." Danny growled. "I've had years of trauma because I was scared of the people that were supposed to be my safe place. I don't get to have a simple evening with my girlfriend. Instead I go over to get my wounds bandaged." When Danny spoke of his wounds, he pulled up his shorts, showing the burn his mother gave him on the thigh.

DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP

"I don't get to play video games with my friends because nobody else in the town other than the Red Huntress knows how to catch the ghosts other than us. My grades are in the toilet because every other class something decides it needs to screw with what life I have left. And now I'm in training to get a job in the Zone because not only do I need to participate in the human world but I need to do the same in the Zone." He bit his lip, a bit ashamed of his outburst.

Maddie set a childish glare at the hero. "Your father and I can hunt the ghosts too. We've thrown some of the town's terrors out ourselves." Tucker looked over at the hunters with an amused look in his eyes.

"Who have you captured?" Jack put his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest.

"The Crate Creep. And several Octo-Plasms." Tuck rubbed his forehead.

"You mean the Box Ghost and a couple Ecto-Puses?" Jack nodded eagerly.

"Beat that." He challenged with a smug smile. The Sam pulled her phone out of her shorts and pulled up the team's ghost files. She handed it to Jazz.

"Okay." The older teen said with a nod. "We've got Ecto-Puses, the Box-Ghost, The Lunch Lady, Skulker, Ember, Technus, Dora, Spectra, Bertrand, the Vultures, Youngblood, Aragon, The Archer, The Executioner, Desiree, Lydia, Freakshow's ghost thing in an alternate reality thing, The Fright Knight, Pariah Dark, Vortex, Walker, Nocturne, Undergrowth, That alternate Tucker Phantom thing, The weird combination of Skulker and Technus, The Ghost Snake, Cujo, Klemper, Johnny 13, Shadow, Kitty, The Ghost Writer, Him, and lots of others that we haven't gotten around to adding yet."

Danny leaned back in his seat. "I think we have you beaten." He said tiredly. The young man looked ready to drop, his eyelids sagging.

DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP

Maddie glanced at the ground. "We could undo what the portal did. Fix-" Danny snapped a shield in place, encasing himself in a glowing green sphere.

"No!" He burst out. "Just, no. I am Phantom. Taking my powers away would be agony for me, it wouldn't fix me. I wasn't telling you about what we do because you need to fix it. I just need you to be aware, I can't shoulder everything myself. I need to be able to vent. To feel safe. That's all I want."

Danny glanced over at both of his friends and realized that they weren't as used to no sleep as he was. Danny stood up and carefully kissed both his mother and father on the top of the head. "We can talk more about this in the morning." He promised. "We're going to head upstairs and try to get some more sleep." Danny helped Sam up and smiled softly, looking exhausted, but a little proud of himself too. Maddie set a hand on his shoulder.

"Good night Danny." She said softly. "We love you." Danny smiled brightly.

"Love you too Mom, see you in the morning."


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, so you all twisted my very sunburned arm. I wrote one last chapter. But now this is the end, alright? I only ever intended for this to be about this length. Go and check out some of my other stories if you're still bored after this.**

Maddie sighed as she sat down at the table in her kitchen, stirring sugar into her coffee. On mornings like this one, she agreed with her son. Mornings were worse than the ghost king. The woman chuckled as she glanced down at one of the watches she and Jack had fabricated for the two of them, Danny and his two best friends, and Jasmine. As handy as it was, Danny's ghost sense wasn't very reliable. The watches Maddie and her husband had created zeroed in on the ghost, letting you know if the ghost was strong enough that it even needed Danny to get out of class for. The Crate Creep wouldn't be taking Danny from his tests anymore. The boy was uncertain how he felt about that.

Maddie couldn't help but chuckle at the pure abnormality of her life. Of course, when she chose ghost hunting she knew that he life would be strange but this was more than she expected. A half-dead son with super powers who saved the town instead of getting the wonderful grades that would be easy for him to get because he had the selflessness to put others before himself. That's why he also pleaded to put a police scanner into the watches. Maddie agreed, but only because she knew that if she said no, Danny would just go and get Tucker to do it for him.

The house was insanely quiet. Jack was out at the hardware store, meaning that despite the fact that it was 9am, there were still no explosions from the basement. Jazz was already at her morning classes. The girl was working herself too hard. She was still very young, only 19, she should still have a bit of fun instead of spending all of her time inside a lecture hall. Maddie would have to talk with her about that later, the young woman was going to burn herself out if she continued like she was.

Suddenly, Maddie's watch beeped and vibrated. The interface morphed from a normal looking watch to a video screen with the push of a button. The glowing neon screen showed a colossal Ectoplasmic fire monster that looked like a glowing green phoenix, eating everything in its path and growing. That was defiantly no the crate creep. Unfortunately, that meant that Maddie had to wake Danny.

The woman sighed as she glanced over at the clock. It was still only 9:20 and the huntress had heard Danny grumble as he climbed out of bed several times the previous night. His nightmares hadn't much better.

Maddie had to give the young man credit. He was good at keeping secrets, but now that his parents were paying closer attention to him they could hear the yells of fear that he tried to stifle. It tore the huntress up inside, but she didn't run to comfort her son unless he called.

Maddie climbed up the stairs and set a hand on the cool wall. Part of her was convinced that waking Danny was a bad idea, that she could take the putrid protoplasm monster by herself. That part of her mind was crazy. Danny would be livid if she went to hunt something that big without backup.

Maddie opened Danny's door slowly, trying not to startle her almost 18 year old son. He was in ghost form, but that didn't necessarily mean that he had a nightmare. Recently, only in the last couple of weeks, Danny had gained a power boost. It upped his power levels to a ten and gave him the ability to stay in ghost form after he passed out.

The boy was sprawled out over his bed, only his legs tangled in to covers. He had a glowing arm holding a pillow over his head, making his snores a hair quieter. His breathing was deep and loud, showing just how deep in sleep the ghost child was.

Maddie set a hand on her son's back, rubbing between his shoulder blades through the thin fabric of his jumpsuit. "Danny. You need to wake up."

The boy groaned as he rolled over, still asleep. "Don wanna join cheerleading. Go 'way Star." He mumbled. Maddie set a hand over her mouth as she laughed softly.

"Daniel. Get up." She said a bit more firmly, but not unkindly. This time Danny said nothing. Maddie rolled her eyes, it was time for drastic measures. She leaned down closer to her son's ear and took a breath. "Ghost!" She yelled in fake alarm.

Danny jolted upwards, tripping on his tangled blankets, and landing face first on the floor. "What! Huh? Where?" Maddie shook her head.

"Main Street." She replied simply as the boy fazed out of his blankets. Danny shook his messy hair out as he slipped his watch back on. Curious, he usually slept with it on. "When did you take that off?" Maddie inquired. Danny looked back at his mother through tired eyes.

"After the third police chase of the night. How big is the ghost?" Maddie pressed a button on her watch, waking the dormant screen. The fiery beast showed on the screen and Danny's eyes bugged out. He started to swear but swallowed the end of his oath at the look on his mother's face. "You can punish me for that later! We've got to go!" Danny picked up his mother by her armpits and turned them both intangible, flying them towards main.

Jack, Sam, and Tucker were already on the scene. Sam's face lit up when she saw Danny. "Hey Handsome!" She called out. "You're late to the party!"

Danny chuckled as he set Maddie down next to the GAV. "Sorry, I had my watch off. Everyone ready?" There was a quick nod from each of the human as Danny rose into the air. "Then let's kick some ass!"

"Language Daniel!"

"Sorry!" He called back to his mother, obviously not too bent over being reprimanded. He started to glow an un-natural blue as he super cooled, his body temp going lower than liquid nitrogen. Sam grabbed a thermos, spheres of anti-ecto solid, and a metal anti-creep stick as she ran to help the halfa fight. Tucker grabbed the doubles of the anti-ecto solid and creep stick, but left the other thermos in the vehicle. They started lobbing the spheres at the fire-bird going for a long distance attack so they didn't get burned.

Maddie and Jack each grabbed a fire extinguisher as they started their own assault on the bird. The people on the ground didn't stay stationary, darting around so they would be harder targets for the ghost.

Danny looked like he was dancing. Tendrils of ice stretched out from the teen, reaching for the bird. The roar of the fire was his music, the mixture of ice and air moving fluidly between his limbs his dance. He sprung upwards, above the bird. The halfa waved teasingly at the bird before dropping like a stone, falling inside of the flames.

Maddie screamed, still not used to seeing her son do daredevil stunts that would get a human killed. Tucker simple rolled his eyes at his best friend's antics as Sam unscrewed the thermos.

The bird exploded. Shards of ice melted as they ripped through the fire bird. Cars and mailboxes fell to the ground, followed by a boy with a thermos, starting to suck up the birds remains before it could reform. Sam chuckled as she ran to go help, pulling all of the bird's soul into her canister.

Danny landed. The tips of his hair were singed. Ash covered his nose and face. Sam tossed her thermos into the back of the GAV, walking over to her boyfriend and starting to use her sleeve to take the ash off of the boy's face. Danny stood there, knowing that his girlfriend wouldn't kiss him until his face was somewhat clean.

He was rewarded for his lack of movement with a quick kiss on the lips. Danny glanced around, making sure that the street was vacant before turning human. He walked over to the GAV, a lazy grin on his face as he wrapped an arm around Sam's waist. "Let's grab some food. I'm starving."

Maddie couldn't help but chuckle, just another ordinary morning.

**Later Phans! THANKS FOR READING! Go find something else to read now.**


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